Mouthguard



K. W. GQRES July 7, 1970 MOUTHGUARD Filed Dec. 5, '1967 UnitedStatesPatent Olhce 3,518,988 Patented July 7 1970 MOUTHGUARD KennethW-x Gares,983-17-NE. #16th St.,

`Bellvl`le, Wash'. 98004 Filed Dec. 5, 1967, Ser. No. 688,172 Int. Cl.A61f 5/00 U.S. Cl. 128--136 3 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Aresilient U-shaped mouthguard having a fore-and Vaft external resilientridge on the posterior arm portions to be disposed between the wearersjaw when the guard is worn to absorb shock.

CROSS REFERENCES Applicant is a joint-patentee in U.S. Pat. No.3,223,085 and is the applicant in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No.679,463, led Oct. 31, 1967.

BACKGROUND Prior known mouthguardsprovide shock absorbent functionsbyfreason of thick but compressible bases disposed between the teeth asin U.S. Pat. No; 3,223,085 or pneumatically by a compressible chamberformed in the base. Diiculty has been encountered with prior deviceswhere the tooth contacting surface'is substantially planar due to theabsence of interlock between the guard and the teeth opposite those onwhich the guard is worn. Also, where the shock absorbent base issubstantially uniform in thickness across the guard channel there is atendency for the wearer to bite throughand then destroy theeife'ctiveness of the guard. Likewise, forces are generated when thewearer bites down that tend to displace the guard from the jaw on whichit is worn, causing discomfort and requiring manual replacement.

PURPOSES This invention 'has for its primary purpose the provision oflirm but resilient members carried on the exterior of a mouthguard andwhich interlock and intert with the teeth of the jaw opposite that onwhich the guard is worn, to provide shock absorbent properties withsecurity of the guard as to placement, less bite through, and greatercomfort.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. l is an external plan view of the mouthguard; FIG. 2is a side view of the mouthguard with the jaw structure suggested bydotted lines; and a FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-section taken on line3-3 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION The mouthguard comprises posterior portions 12 and 14 joinedforwardly by anterior portion 16 to form the base member which isgenerally U-shaped in the manner and proportions of human jaw. Incross-section the posterior portions 12 and 14 (as shown in FIG. 3) andthe anterior portion are channeled. The guard embraces the wearers teethof one jaw and adjacent portions of the gums.

The material from which the guard is molded desirably has resilience andconformability4 so that a standard molded base member will be adaptableto a reasonable range of jaw sizes and shapes, and to various toothconfiguratons. Preferably, the base member is molded of one of the vinylresins, for example, although it will be apparent that rubber, polyvinylchloride, and urethane may also be used.

The channel may contain liner 18 which can be molded to the wearersteeth.

The novelty herein is the provision, on a conformable mouthguard basemember formed. of resilient material, of prominent fore-and-aft ridges20 and 22 external of the channel bottom of each posterior portion 12and 14, respectively. Each ridge extends rearwardly from a locationadjacent the wearers rst bicuspid as shown in FIG. 2. The prominence ormass of the ridges may be varied with respect to that shown to increaseor decrease the force-absorbing characteristics. Or the material fromwhich the ridges or concussive pads are formed may have more or adifferent resilience by comparison with the material of which the basemember 10 is molded. It has been found possible to mold ridges of onematerial having a chosen durometer and fuse them to a base member havinggreater resilience but also substantially less durometer hardness thanthe ridges. Another choice is to extrude strips of material of theldesired cross-section and from such cut pads longer or shorter than themean to meet varying conditions. The fusion of the pads to the basemember may be adhesively or by interaction of the materials. Whenfitting to the wearer occurs under conditions involving pressures, itwill probably be desirable to cover the concussive pads with metallicshields that absorb pressure and prevent the pads 'being crushed out ofshape.

As shown in FIG. 3, the guard is disposed on an upper jaw 26 and theridge 22 is directed downward toward the lower jaw 28. The cheek surfaceis to the left in FIG. 3 and the tongue is to the right. The uprightplane 30-30 medially divides the upper jaw. It will be seen that theaxis of ridge 22 is displaced inward of plane 30-30, thus locating theridge in the natural grooves and contours of lower teeth.

While the guard is shown herein as adapted for and worn on the upperjaw, it will be apparent that mouthguards may also be Worn on the lowerjaw 28 with effective shock-absorbing benefits. In such case, the ridgeson the posterior arms 12 and 14 will desirably be located outward for anupright plane medially dividing the lower jaw wherebyl the ridges thenare located to mate with the natural grooves and contours of the upperjaw 26.

'In FIG. l the fore-and-aft course of ridges 20 and 22 are shown assubstantially straight. However, they may course in a slight curve inwhich the convexity is inward to thus accommodate a more rounded jawstructure.

It will he apparent to those skilled in the pertinent art that changesof materials may 'be made, the molded contours may be altered, andproportions may vary. All such as reasonably fall within the spirit andscope of the subjoined claims, giving due consideration to anappropriately liberal application of the rule of equivalents is intendedto be covered by this patent.

What is claimed is:

1. A mouthguard, comprising:

a conformable base member, formed of resilient Inaterial, including apair of posterior portions joined by an anterior portion, said basemember being generally U-shaped and having a channel to embrace awearers jaw so that the channel bottom is disposed between the upper andlower teeth;

on each of said posterior portions of said base member and external ofsaid channel bottom, a prominent resilient ridge, each said ridgeextending posteriorly `from adjacent a wearers first bicuspid to nearthe rear of its associated posterior portion, and each ridge havingsloping sides merging to define a ridge crest, to be disposedposteriorly-anteriorly and located to bear on the teeth of the jawopposite that on which said mouthguard is worn.

3 2. The structure according to claim 1 in which the channel iS adaptedto be worn on the wearers upper jaw and the axis of each said ridge isinward of the median of the posterior portion on which said ridge islocated. 3. The structure according to claim 1 in which the materialforming the ridge has less resilience than the material forming the basemember.

'4 References Cited UNITED STATES' PATENTS" LAWRENCE W. TRAPP,`irirxnajgy Eaniner

